Preserved /

GreGory elms

In the world of ridley scott’s 1982

science fiction classic Blade runner

one of the most prized possessions is

a perfectly replicated owl. The film is

based on a 1968 Philip K. dick novel, do

Androids dream of electric sheep in

which social status is most often based

on the ‘model’ of animal one can afford

– or even better, the ownership of a real

animal in a world where most species

have been killed by nuclear fallout. This

is the background to a more complex

story, but it is one that is infused with

melancholy and a powerful sense of

loss. What is humanity without the

context of the animal?

But humanity and the animal and insect

kingdoms have long maintained an

imbalanced sense of symbiosis. On the

one hand we ogle animals in zoos or more

regularly via television documentaries.

Only the most hardy of tourists today

bother venturing into what remains of

natural habitats – all too often zones of

environmental Armageddon. very few

species are truly ‘domesticated’. Indeed

almost all animals remain the ‘other’,

psychologically impregnable – some

are good for eating, some are pests but

they all, in one way or another, remain

objects of fascination.

Gregory elms captures this sense of

fascination with unnerving potency. His

menagerie of misfits, malcontents and

monsters are captured with alluring

charm. elms reveals no prejudice when

it comes to selecting his portraits;

the pestilent hyena alongside the

strangely elegant and impelling dead

Leaf Mantis, the odious Cane Toad

against the loyal Jack russell. via elms’

aesthetic each and every one of them

carries a peculiar charm, as though they

had been groomed for their portraiture

session. With his deliberately formalized

composition, his animals become

indisputably individualistic. They are

not generic dogs, toads or birds. They

are members of a bestiary noblesse.

Animals have, of course, long been the

stuff of artistic inspiration, from durer’s

famous rabbit to Hirst’s infamous shark.

In Australia, elms fits alongside an

enduring history of animal as subject,

seen contemporaneously in the

powerful 2004 exhibition Instinct at the

Monash Faculty Gallery, which featured

THe ArT OF PreservATIOnBy AsHLey CrAWFOrd

First published for the exhibition Preserved by

Gregory elms - november 07 - 24 / 2012

artists as diverse as emily Floyd, sharon Goodwin,

Irene Hanenbergh, Louise Hearman, ronnie van

Hout, david noonan and Lisa roet.

And while elms may capture the notion of the animal

as ‘other’ he also taps into the strange connections

we feel toward other species. The animal-human

connection is obviously a fertile one. In light of the

success of recent works in the firecracker-hot field

of comparative ethology, delving into the minds

and emotional lives of animals, there is much to say

about the permeable membrane between human

and non-human in postmodern culture. Animals

have also played an intriguing, little-examined role

in the emergence of technological modernity, from

nAsA’s space monkeys to experiments on animal

behavior and intelligence.

But elms work also hints at the pre-history of animal-

human interaction. Throughout art history, animals

have been utilised by artists to represent human

character traits – a man is a ‘snake’ or a ‘dog’ or a

‘pig’ depending on their personality. Animals have

also featured in mythology and the supernatural –

the werewolf, the vampire. elms also turns the gallery

into the scientific laboratory, the taxidermists studio

and, inevitably, the Hunting Lodge.

yes, often sadly, (the Cane Toad aside), elms’

subjects are dead. But they live on with a strange

majesty via elms’ lens.

Dead-Leaf Mantis, Deroplatus Lobata- 2011Archival Inkjet Print

125 x 100 cm

Female Red Kangaroo, Macropus Rufus - 2010Archival Inkjet Print

100 x 125 cm

African lioness, Panthera Leo - 2010Archival Inkjet Print

100 x 125 cm

Thailand Tarantula, Haplopelma Albostriatus - 2011Archival Inkjet Print80 x 64 cm

Previous page:Sulphur Crested Cockatoo, Cacatua Galerita - 2010

Archival Inkjet Print100 x 125 cm

This page:Cave Nectar Bat, Eoncyteris Spelaea- 2011

Archival Inkjet Print80 x 64 cm

Jack Russell Terrier, Canis Lumpus Familiaris - 2010 Archival Inkjet Print 64 x 80 cm

Spotted Hyaena, Crocuta - 2010 Archival Inkjet Print 64 x 80 cm

Cane Toad, Bufo Marinus- 2011 Archival Inkjet Print 125 x 100 cm

Red Fox, Vulpes Vulpes - 2010 Archival Inkjet Print 100 x 125 cm

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